Vieth edges Riedford for top all-Metro boys soccer honor

The differences between Memorial's Michaels — Vieth and Riedford — in boys soccer were razor thin.

Riedford had a slight edge in production, but he always played in the attack at forward, while Vieth spent much of his time in the middle of the field and even dropped toward the back late in close games.

Riedford, a junior, was named the Player of the Year on the Evansville all-City team chosen by the coaches, but Vieth, a senior, earned All-America honors when he was one of 40 players nationally named to the High School All-American Soccer Game Dec. 8 in Birmingham, Ala.

Memorial compounded matters by not voting a team MVP and coach Bill Vieth, Jr. refuses to vote since Michael Vieth is his son.

"They're both excellent players who do different things on the field," he said, "They both had a lot to do with our success this season."

But an opposing coach was willing to break the deadlock and give Vieth the nod for all-Metro Player of the Year selected by the Evansville Courier & Press as long as his name and school were left out.

"Remember," he said. "I still have to play against Riedford next year and he's an excellent player. But I'd give the edge to Vieth because to me he was more of a leader, he played more places and he showed the ability to score timely goals."

That coach may have been referring to Vieth's finest moment, a goal in the final minute of the regional semifinal against Vincennes Lincoln that allowed the Tigers to escape and eventually win the regional over Castle.

"That was definitely a big goal," said Michael Vieth, who's still undecided on his college choice for next season. "It breathed life and excitement back into our team and then we were able to get another goal in overtime and win that game (2-1). That was one of the highlights of the year.

"Individually, this is a nice honor because there are a lot of good players in Evansville. But it's all about team. We lost earlier than we would've liked, but it was still a season to be proud of."

Joining Vieth and Riedford on the honor team were two more Tigers, seniors Rob McCord and Vinny Bonano. McCord anchored Memorial's defense as a center back, while Bonano was a versatile attacking player who finished with 10 goals and eight assists.

"The main thing our seniors did and we had 10 of them, is provide great leadership," said Bill Vieth. "They were all great examples to our younger players."

Three other teams — Castle, North and Mater Dei — had two players each on the team, while Harrison placed one player on the squad, junior midfielder Cam Gilreath, an all-City, all-Southern Indiana Athletic Conference and all-district selection.

The two Huskies included two underclassmen in the midfield, junior Caleb Powers and sophomore Braden VanAllen.

Castle's two players on the team included junior defender Derek Biega and senior forward Jordan Murdock.